Ore-separator.



Y No. 668,742. Patented Feb. 26, l90l. W. A. BEDDING.

ORE SEPARATOR.

(Application filed Aug. 6, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. BEDDING, OF MACON, GEORGIA.

ORE-S EPARATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,742, dated February 26; 1901. Application filed August 6, 1900. Serial No. 26,107. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. BEDDING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Macon,in the county of Bibb and State of Georgia, have invented certain Improvements in Ore- Separators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates particularly to separating graphite from other material with which it occurs, and in the separation advantage is taken of the fact that the graphite is of lower specific gravity than the other materials, that it is found in laminae or scales, and that it will readily float, owing to its repelling water.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing all that portion of my apparatus which contains novelty herein claimed. Fig. 2 is a section through the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of a certain airchamber.

The object of the invention is to produce a' A designates a suitable frame, of wood or other material, supporting a structure, preferably of sheet metal, made up of a watercompartment B, a downwardly-convergent upwardly-open vessel 0, having at its apex a valve-controlled discharge, and an overflowtrough D, leading from said vessel, the compartment,vessel, and trough being preferably of equal width. The compartment B is a closed box supplied with water through a valved pipe E and having its inclined wall B perforated, so that water entering it through the pipe may be discharged through these perforations. Above the rear end of the frame, which is the left-hand end in the drawings, is

a V-shaped inclined hopper F, which may be supported in any suitable manner and which is provided with a preferably-valved aperture F for discharging material in the medial vertical plane of the structure below. The material in falling strikes upon the upper part Of a half-cone Gr, fixed upon an adj ustablyinclined plate H, supported from the frame A, both cone and plate terminating a little above the plane of the vessel 0 and a little in front of the compartment B. Below the plate and cone is a hollow closed wedge-shaped chamber I, having its thin front edge parallel to the plane of the trough and provided with forwardly-directed perforations. This chamber is adj ust-ably mounted, so that it may be inclined'downwardly forward at such angle as may be desired, and it is supplied with air more or less compressed and entering through a flexible pipe J, provided with a controlling device or valve J.

When the apparatus is to be used, the valve in the pipe E is opened, admitting water to the compartment B, whence it passes into and fills the vessel C and overflows along the trough D, the discharge at the apex of the vessel being closed or so adjusted as to discharge only a fraction of the entering water. The supply of water entering through the pipe E-is so adjusted that a thin stratum of overflowing water shall cover the bottom of the trough and advance with but moderate velocity. The valve J is opened, allowing small jets of air to escape, either horizontally or at a slight downward angle toward the trough and above the path of the water escaping from the'compartment B. The material to be separated is then allowed to drop from the hopper upon the cone G, down which it passes, spreading out and leaving the base of the cone in a very thin curved sheet. As it leaves the cone every part of this sheet is struck by the forwardly-moving air issuing from the wedge-like chamber. By this spreading out the material and subjecting it to the air-blast practically every particle of graphite is separated from its fellows, so that few granules of extraneous material are held or protected by the graphite, and as the graphite is both lighter than the other components and of flake-like form, presenting to the air more surface than an equal amount of the other material, it isall blown forward farther than the latter and drops gently upon the surface of the slowly-moving unruffled water, while the heavier and more rounded particles of extraneous matter, being comparatively little deflected by the air, drop through the Water-spray from the water-compartment, which breaks loose the comparatively few positively adherent particles of graphite. Thus practically completely freed from the graphite the heavy particles sink quickly and pass out at the apex of the vessel, either continuously with a small amount of Water or by opening the valve at intervals. While, as has been suggested, some flakes of graphite may adhere to heavy granules of rock, on the other hand some small particles of rock adhere to flakes of graphite and fall upon the surface of the Water with them; but as the layerof graphite upon the water is quite thin, and as such particles readily become wet while the graphite does not, they are almost without exception detached in time to sink upon the front wall of the vessel and slide down to join the mass being discharged at the vessels apex. The apparatus being once properly adjusted to the grade of material operated upon is automatic in its action, practically pure graphite being continually discharged through the trough and material containing practically no graphite passing out from the apex of the vessel (1.

What I claim is-- 1. In an ore-separator,tl1e combination with a body of water and means for giving its surface stratum lateral motion, of means for discharging above the plane of the surface material to be separated, and means for directing upon the falling material an air-current approximately parallel to said stratum.

2. In an ore-separator, the combination of a body of water, of means for discharging water in a spray upon one side of said body, means for discharging above such spray material to be separated, and means of directing an air-current upon the falling material,

above the spray, to blow its lighter components upon the water beyond the latter.

3. The combination with a body of water and means for giving its surface stratum a lateral traveling motion, of means for discharging above said body material to be separated, means for directing upon the falling material a transverse air-blast, and means for at will varying the angle of said air-blast.

4. The combination with a body of water and means for giving its surface stratum a lateral traveling movement, of means for dis charging above said body material to be separated, a cone-like device interposed in the path of the falling material, an angularlyadjustable air-blast device discharging between the cone and the water and means for adjusting the inclination of the cones axis.

5. The combination with the downwardlyconvergent water vessel, having at one side an overflow-trough, of the perforated watercompartment at the opposite side of the vessel and above the level of the overflow, a valved pipe supplying Water to said compartment, means for discharging material, to be separated, above and near the perforated side of said compartment and means for producing an air-current between the discharge-poi nt and the compartment and in the direction of said trough.

\V. A. BEDDING.

Witnesses:

A. A. ALLEN, OI-IAs. E. CAMPBELL. 

